Insect-trap.



N0. 68!,772. v Patented Sept. 3, I91". 8. A. WRIGHT.

INSECT TRAP.

(Application filed Apr. 9, 1901;)

(No Model.)

n4: Noam: mans co. mow-uwo" wwnmo'ron u c UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SILAS A. WRIGHT, OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI.

-IN S ECT-TRAP.

SIPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 681 ,772, datedSeptember 3, 1901.

Application filed April 9, 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Beitknown that I, SILAS A. WRIGHT, a citi zen of the United States,residing at Springfield, in the county of Greene and State of Missouri,have invented a new and useful Insect-Trap, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to that class of insect-traps which employ acentral light to attract night-flying insects and having also suitablemeans for trapping and destroying them; and the object of the presentimprovement is to provide simple and effective means for attractinginsects and suddenly check their flight as they approach the attractivecenter by striking deflectors which throw them into a receptacle belowcontaining poisonous or other matter which will destroy the same, thedeflectors and means for supporting the same being of a particularlyadvantageous character as to their construction and arrangement andcapable of being applied in operative position to any form of receptaclewithout specially preparing the latter.

With this and other objects and advantages in view the inventionconsists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts, whichwill be more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of an insect-trapembodying the features of the invention and showing the illuminatingdevice partially broken away. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section ofthe same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the improved trap, showing amodification. Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section of a trap similarto that shown by Fig. 3 and embodying a further modification.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspondingparts in the several Views.

The numeral 1 designates a pan or receptacle, which may be a device ofthis class commonly used in a household and preferably having a beadededge 2.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, a pair of supporting-wires3 and 4 are diametrically disposed in relation to the pan and arrangedin planes at right angles to each other, the said wires intersecting atthe Serial No. 55,088. (No model.)

center and formed with terminal hooks 5 to catch over the beaded edge 2,and thereby firmly attach the same to the pan. Rising from the wires, onopposite sides of the cen ters thereof, are deflectors 6 and connectedat their upper ends to right-angularly-disposed centrally-intersectingtop-supporting wires 7 and 8, the wires 3 and 7 being parallel with eachother and likewise the wires 4 and 8. Each pair of the parallel wireshas two of the deflectors attached thereto by rolling the endstherearound or otherwise fastening the same, the inner edges of thedeflectors being inclined upwardly and inwardly, as at 9, to provide aclear space of sufficient dimension adjacent to the point ofintersection of the wires 3 and 4: to form a seat for an illuminatingdevice 10, such as a lamp, lantern, candle, torch, or other analogouslighting means. The wire a is formed with a central downwardly-projecting crimp 11 to receive the portion of the wire 3 crossing said wire 4,sothat a stable seat will be provided for the said illuminatin g device,and the central portions of the Wires 7 and 8 have reversely-arrangedinterlocking crimps 12 and 13, respectively, to maintain the wires andthe deflectors in the radial positions desired with sufficient certaintyto resist accidental displacement. The deflectors will be constructed ofany suitable material,either sheet metal or other sheet substance orwire-gauze, and it is proposed to place a poisonous liquid or othermaterial in the pan 1 beneath the deflectors,so that as the insects,attracted by the illuminating device, are drawn toward and strike thesaid deflectors they will be caused to fall into the pan and bedestroyed or killed. A very efficient at tracting means in conjunctionwith the lighting device would be to have the deflectors present veryhighly polished or reflecting surfaces to produce a brighter displayover the pan. The wires carrying the deflectors can be easily assembledor detached, and the dead insects will be removed from time to time fromthe pan and the latter replenished with the destroying material.

In Fig. 3 a single pair of deflectors 6 are shown and attached to thewires 4 and 8, as before explained, the wire 3 being without deflectors,and the said wires 4 and 8 are vposite portions of the wire 3.

crossed wires provide a support in this instance for an illuminatingdevice similarly to the construction heretofore set forth. With theexception of the absence of one pair of deflectors and the use of thebrace-wire 14 the construction and arrangement of this modified form isthe same as that heretofore described. In Fig. 4 the same parts areincluded as in Fig. 3, with the exception that the lower wires haveangular deflections or bends 15 at the terminals to bring said Wiresdown into the pan and insure trapping of the insects, particularly somekinds of the latter, and by this means also less destroying liquid orother substance is required to be placed in the pan to produce theresult sought.

The improved device in either of its forms can be placed in any placewhere the illuminating efiect will be best presented or produce thegreatest attraction, or it may be disposed to provide such distinctattraction as to cause insects coming into its range to be drawn theretoand be destroyed. In the manufacture of the trap the wires anddeflectors will be prepared and arranged as set forth, and the pansbeing of ordinary form can be easily obtained in bulk in the market at aminimum cost.

Changes in the size, proportions, and minor details may be resorted toWithout departing from the principle of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is In aninsect-trap, the combination with a pan, of supporting-wires terminallyattached thereto and centrally intersecting each other at an angle, thecentral crossed portions of the wires forming a seat for an illuminatingdevice, two or more highly-polished deflectors held in vertical positionby said Wires and having a space between the inner opposing edgesthereof, and intersecting brace-Wires coacting with the upperextremities of the deflectors to prevent the latter from being

